12 June, 2008

whiny whined for a reason (aka: the dead chicken comes back to life with a dropper of elecolytes and the prayer of an innocent)

Here is the story of Whiny, the bird who whined for reason: Whiny always whines, constantly. She squawks, and today she stopped. She stopped, and stopped at some point last night or early this morning. When I got up I found her dead. Well, what to any one would have been dead...I couldn't see her breathing, she was cold (and chickens in case you don't know should be about 106 degrees F or so). I was going to put her dead body in a plastic bag and tie it up and put her in the trash, but her beak moved, and again, and again....as if she were whining with no sound, yes...no, not funny.
I had no idea what to do, so I got online and posed the subject to my trusted Back Yard Chickens forum buddies, and they helped me figure it out all day long. It is a forum, where us crazy chicken folk collect ourselves, a fun time mostly, but always very helpful.
They told me that it was not a reflex that she was moving her mouth, and even though it seemed that there was no way this listless bird, who would let her head be limp, could possibly be still in the land of living birds....I tried it. I gave her electrolytes from a dropper, and sugar water and she lives on! She does, look down through the pictures and see her incredible recovery. At first I finally was able to see her breathe, FINALLY (I had been watching on and off for a whole-lotta-time), then I saw her move her beak more, then move her head, then she opened her eyes and sat up, and now drunkenly stumbles about with a confused look on her face. She keeps jumping at the heat lamp I put in there (another BYC suggestion) I think she may have seen the beauty of the white welcoming light and want to see who made it. Do chickens go to heaven? I know that today my little j prayed like no other for his little Whiny to come back, let's hear some bungaree speak:

Dear Jesus,
I would like Whiny to be better, help her not be sick, thank you for taking care of her, amen. -j

Sweetness it was, my fear was that he was praying for something that was not about to happen, as he was praying for a cold, breathless bird! However, it does say something about faith the size of mustard seed, and what about the faith of a child? So sincere...no let down, they trust, they know, they don't hold back in their hearts preparing themselves that their prayer may not be "God's Will"....let it ll hang out....a dead chicken came to life, I don't know the reason, but I do know that my little j believes that his God exploded life in her again, at least for now.

Here are the pics, the worst are first...WARNING: a listless chicken:










rock on whiny...maybe tomorrow you will whine again!

Oh, and she got sick because she was malnourished, meaning: she would eat and eat and her body did not learn to absorb nutrients (therefore starving), so she would get cold, and was always hungry...it is a chick disease, and should not follow her through to adult birdhood.


3 comments:

Corinne said...

OH OH OH!! A resurrected chicken!! This was a fantastic post - I love your son's prayer. May Whiny whine on for many years to come :)

bethany (dreadlock girl) said...

corinne- yes resurrected for sure! j loves to pray for her, it is really sweet.

She is still getting better, so we are thinking she will make it! YAY!

Trixie said...

Oh your poor chicken! And your kids are just too cute. Thanks for sharing.